Brimming over with joy

This month's theme at Christmas Kickstart (where host Jo is being ably assisted by elf Gail) is hats — hats on their own, hats on people, hats on critters — if it's Christmassy and there's a hat involved you're good to go!

Retro Rubber are playing tic tac toe and it's a wintery one as things got out of kilter with their enforced change of platform so I'm playing there too — right hand column (tag, holly, rhinestones) and also bottom row (die cut, snow, rhinestones). The holly and the rhinestones are both tiny but they're there on the snowman's hat band. The Hero Arts set (holly and sentiment stamps, word die cut) has been in my collection since 2017 I think.

This is the first outing for the snowman die from the Cool Yule set. I went very much my own way though — I used the nose intended for Santa to make a tangerine rather than a carrot nose, didn’t use the monocle and replaced the star accent for the hat with some stamped and fussy cut holly with tiny gem berries. The eyes are Enamel Accents, I drew on a wiggly mouth and he’s wearing the scarf that belongs to the reindeer in the set rather than his own bow tie!

Stamps:
Joy Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts, had mine since 2017)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Memento Luxe by Tsukineko (Love Letter)

Other:
Cool Yule dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Softly Falling embossing folder (Stampin' Up!, retired)
Tags dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Copic markers
White pencil
Posca pain pen (white)
Enamel Accents by Ranger (black)
Nail art gems
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by!

A little gift?

The Katzelkraft cat and mouse Christmas card I made last year went down well so I decided to use the same set when making a birthday card for the gentleman of the household. This particular cat didn't get a look in then but the cheeky mouse is back -- looks like he might be in trouble once the song is over though, pusscat has his tail firmly under her paw. Perhaps he’s going to end up being offered as a gift?! Their cat is quite good at that although not as spectacular as her predecessor who had been known to offer up rabbits, including wrangling a live (full grown) one through the cat flap!

Jo's caroling cat prompted me to imagine a feline rendition of the birthday song, the double notes are stamped, the single ones are hand drawn. Stamping, masking, stenciling and a touch of Copic colouring with a tiny bit of pencil detail is as complicated as things got for this one. I realised I’ve also used the same stencil as Jo used for this challenge — as I said in my comment on her card, it’s quite possibly my most used stencil, it just seems to finish off so many things!

Stamps:
Les Chats Russe (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Birthday (Letter It range by Ranger)
Mini Memories (Crafty Secrets, no longer with us)

Paper: Bristol board

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Adirondack by Ranger (Pool)

Other:
Copic markers
Coloured pencils
Strobes stencil (Visible Image)
Black fineliner
Corner Chomper

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is looking for birthday cards this month so I’m linking up there

Thanks for stopping by!

Link in the chain — March

It’s reveal day once again at Card Chain Challenge, lots of lovely and very diverse cards to admire as usual.

From the options on offer this month I chose the theme of gnomes. I started off with the sketch as well but things sort of evolved and the sketch got rather lost. Of course I also used the product option of stamps, it’s still a rare card from me that doesn’t feature stamping.

PH Gnome is full of the joys of spring and pleased to have an opportunity to show off a different outfit as he's usually masquerading as Santa. Having noticed the flowers pushing up through the grass at the base of his favourite tree, he couldn’t resist picking one to adorn his hat. 

The clouds on the chalked sky are hand drawn, everything is coloured with Copics and the embossed sentiment is a folder I’ve had for ages — it’s a set of three and this is the first time this one has been out to play. As my card was going to the lovely Jo this time, I thought some embossing was in order as a little nod to the glory days of the Let’s Squash It challenge. Joining in the “old supplies” vibe, that tree hasn’t seen ink for a very long time (maybe 2009?!) but I thought the whimsical style would work well with the gnome.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Spring Trees (Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Adirondack by Ranger (Espresso)

Other:
Copic markers
Sayings embossing folder (Darice)
Chalk
Zig sketching pen (dark brown)

I don't usually combine my CCC cards with other challenges but as Lost Coast is celebrating gnomes this month, I'll make an exception and link up there! 

Thanks for stopping by! There’s still time to sign up for the April challenge at CCC if you fancy making and sending one card and getting a card in return. And a whole month to play at LCD!

Birthday chemistry

This is a birthday card for a young woman who is studying bio chemistry at uni and is not at all a girly girl. I got this set ages ago (think years rather than months!) when it was on sale and have failed to use it before now! I thought a little chemistry set up might do the trick when thinking what to make for her birthday card this year. It’s completely fanciful of course, unless that liquid is condensing to a significantly reduced volume, that receiving container is going to overflow!

Some simple masking and quite a lot of careful positioning (hooray for a stamping platform!) got everything stamped as I wanted and then it was just a case of colouring (mostly Copics and then a white pencil to colour over the horizontal surfaces of the vial contents), adding some grounding shadows and gluing on the sentiment — I went with a die cut one to make it big and bold since it’s maybe not an obvious birthday image! The whole panel is cut out with a stitched rectangle die and there’s a white liner inside the card, cut with a matching die.

Stamps:
Les flacons (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board, black

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other: 
Happy Birthday Poe Script die (Poppystamps)
 Stitched rectangle dies A6 size (Paper Rose)
 Copic markers 
White pencil
White paint pen (Posca)

The Die Cut Divas are looking for birthday and anniversary cards this month so I’m linking up there, here’s the link if you’d like details of the challenge:

Thanks for stopping by. 

A visit to the Louvre

The meerkats are having a day out in Paris so of course a visit to the Louvre is in order. They’re so excited by seeing the Mona Lisa that they just couldn’t resist a photo bomb — one for the album! They’re joining in with Lost Coast Designs’ current challenge to “make it funny”.

This was originally intended as a one layer card but I managed to smear watercolour in several places so I ended up cutting out the image and giving it some photo corners on a new card base. 

I seem to be almost incapable of making a card without masking at the moment! The meerkats were stamped and masked before Mona was stamped. She has a hazy watercolour background and the meerkats are also watercoloured as I used Versafine ink so needed to lay off the Copics!

I've used Glossy Accents on the meerkats' eyes and done a few decorative scattered dots as well, just for some textural interest along with the scored lines so I'm linking up at Time Out too where the current theme is to use a clear element. 

Stamps:

No Hat Mona (Lost Coast Designs)
Les Surikats (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Sentiment (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board , scrap of black

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Watercolours
ATC Corners die (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
Glossy Accents
Corner Chomper

What’s new pussycat?

I needed a new home card and this happened. It really did just go its own way! I initially stencilled the background and added the die cut lettering to make a masculine-looking card and intended to leave it at that. I did use two shades of Copic on the lettering for a slightly ombre effect as I liked the way it looked on a Christmas card I made a while back (here). 

The card just didn’t look finished though so I went on the hunt for something to put bottom left as I thought that would help. I thought something like a lamp or a house plant would be ideal but couldn’t find anything suitable. While flicking through a basket of stamps in what felt like an increasingly forlorn hope, this chap presented himself and seemed pretty determined to have his time in the spotlight. Much better!

He’s stamped on the card base and then stamped again and fussy cut to stick over the top. His whiskers and fuzzy furry bits stay looking intact that way! I changed his facial expression with just a couple of very small pen strokes so he’s a bit happier-looking. He has been a bit mischievous though. Can you spot the boo-boo?*

Stamps:
Ignace, Les Gros Chats (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board 

Ink:
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Graphite Black)

Other:
Copic markers
Posca paint pen (white)
Bricks stencil (I think it’s Dutch Dubadoo)
Black fineliner
Alphanumeric Classic Lower dies (Tim Holtz/Sizzix)

* I managed to stick the O on upside down. By the time I realised the glue had set pretty firmly so I decided to just live with it, I’m guessing it will go unnoticed but I can always blame it on the cat!

Thanks for stopping by!

A woodland Christmas

The current challenge at Christmas Kickstart has us coming Out of the Woods. As soon as I saw the theme I knew I wanted to christen this stamp set and in particular this handsome stag. When I then saw We Love Stamping has a wildlife theme I knew it was meant to be.

This is very nearly a one layer card, just the sentiment strip is separate. I stamped and masked the stag, used a circle mask and stamped the pine bough and berry sprig then inked over with some Bundled Sage Distress ink. I remember seeing somebody (not sure if it was a member of the Katzelkraft DT) use the pine and berry stamps to make a sort of designer paper. It looked lovely so I took the same sort of approach here. I stamped in red and then went over the stems with a dark brown fineliner, intensified the berry colour with a Copic and added tiny white paint pen highlights. 

I then swapped to a circle stencil and added some blue around the stag. Everything is coloured with a mixture of Copics and pencils. I used a copper gel pen to doodle and give the circle some definition and also used it along the edges of the sentiment strip.

Stamps:
Out of the Wild (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage)
Adirondack by Ranger (Red Pepper)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Copic markers
Spica glitter pen (green)
Copper gel pen
White paint pen (Posca)
Black fineliner

Here are the challenges if anyone would like to play along too!

 

 

Cold toes?

I had a plan for joining in at the current Lost Coast Designs challenge where the team would like us to make it funny. Then I saw the current Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge theme of Cold and this idea popped into my head and refused to go away until an attempt at making it had happened! The original idea might still get a look in before the month ends, we’ll see.

It’s a version of an age old joke but I thought the expression on the dog’s face fit it perfectly, poor wee thing! Wording is computer generated, it’s a bit situation-specific for anyone to make a stamp, I reckon! Torn paper snow, paint pen dots (I probably should have splattered but I didn’t think of that in time!) and my usual rounded corner finish it off.

Stamps:
Pointy Hat Gnome (Lost Coast Designs)
Les Chiens (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Kraft, scrap of white

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)

Other:
Coloured pencils
White paint pen (Posca)
Corner Chomper
Black fineliner

Spring is in the air

The northern hemisphere has entered meteorological spring and the Die Cut Divas would like to see some signs of the new season in our projects this month.The challenge provided a perfect starting point for a birthday card I needed to make.

A couple of months back I bought a bundle of Lisa Horton products on eBay which included a pretty buttercup set. As they generally start flowering in March I thought that might be a good place to start. I’m still enjoying playing with some dark backgrounds so I added my stencilled, die cut and embossed spray of buttercups to a black card base with a white heat embossed sentiment and a frame drawn with a white paint pen and given some smudgy, chalkboard sort of corners with a white pencil.

I only used two ink colours on the stencilling, one yellow and one green, which sort of made up for the amount of other stuff taking up real estate on my desk! The camera hasn't picked up the shading details of the green leaves very well but it's the best I could manage.

Paper: Bristol board, smooth black

Ink: Adirondack by Ranger (Sunshine Yellow), Memento by Tsukineko (New Sprout)

Other:
Buttercup Bloom bundle (3D folder, outline die, layering stencils — Lisa Horton Crafts)
Sentiment from Enjoy Quotes (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Bright white embossing powder (Wow!)
White Posca paint pen
White pencil
Corner Chomper

Thanks for stopping by! 

Link in the chain - February

I've finally managed to reach a state where I felt I could join in again at Card Chain Challenge — hooray! My card for February has gone to Brenda. Stylistically this is a total contrast to what Brenda tends to make herself but I figured that's part of what CCC is about!

From the options on offer I chose the theme (On the Farm) and the colours (indigo, lime, violet). I did use a die but as it's a plain square I think I'd be pushing it to claim the technique option of dies/fussy cutting!

There was a lot more lime showing on the first version of this but nothing else was quite right so it got framed for a sort of Polaroid effect, selecting the bit of the image I was happiest with. In an attempt to get closer to indigo than anything in my ink stash, I stamped the sentiment with both Blueprint Sketch and Dusty Concord - thank goodness for stamp positioners, eh? For some reason the colour balance went to pot in the photo and in a way that resisted adjustment — the sentiment is a bit darker in real life and the violet is a bit lighter!

I think this cow has probably just spotted something tasty so the sentiment seemed appropriate! 

Stamps:
Cow Selfie and Enjoy Quotes (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Tim Holtz Distress Oxides (Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron)
Tim Holtz Distress (Blueprint Sketch, Dusty Concord)
Brilliance

Other:
Square Nestabilities
Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by. There are a few more days to sign up for the next exchange if you fancy making and receiving a hand made card.